MKT 360 - Chapter 9 Key Terms & Concepts

Categorical Variables

Take on a value to represent some classifiable or qualitative aspect - Not a number #

Internal Validity

exists to the extent that an experimental variable is truly responsible for any variance in the dependent variable

Demand Effect

occurs when demand characteristics actually affect the dependent variable

Experimental Condition

one of the possible levels of an experimental variable manipulation

Covariate

A continuous variable included in the statistical analysis as a way of statistically controlling for variance due to that variable. - A continuous variable expected to show a statistical relationship with a dependent variable - Treated like a regression variable sometimes

Placebo

A false experimental treatment disguising the fact that no real treatment is administered

Maturation Effect

A function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide with growth and experience. - Experiments taking place over longer time spans may see lower internal validity as subjects simply grow older or more experienced.

Control Group

A group of subjects to whom NO experimental treatment is administered which serves as a BASELINE for comparison

Experimental Group

A group of subjects to whom an experimental treatment is administered

Testing Effects

A nuisance effect occurring when the initial measurement or test alerts or primes subjects in a way that affects their response to the experimental treatments. - ONLY occurs in BEFORE-AND-AFTER STUDIES - Students taking standardized achievement and intelligence tests for the second time usually do better than those taking the tests for the first time

Instrumentation Effect

A nuisance that occurs when a change in the wording of questions, a change in interviewers, or a change in other procedures causes a change in the dependent variable. - Problematic with ANY type of repeated measures design

Manipulation Effect

A validity test of an experimental manipulation to make sure that the manipulation DOES produce differences in the independent variable

Counterbalancing

Attempts to eliminate the confounding effects of order of presentation by requiring that one fourth of the subjects be exposed to treatment A first, one fourth to treatment B first, one fourth to treatment C first, and finally one fourth to treatment D first.

Continuous Variables

Can take on any value. - The researcher must select appropriate levels of that variable as experimental treatments - Opposite of categorical variables - Sometimes independent variable - Ex: PRICE (can take on any $$ value)

Blocking Variables

Categorical variables included in the statistical analysis of experimental data as a way of statistically controlling or accounting for variance due to that variable. - Ex: gender or ethnicity - Researchers may group results based on whether respondents are male or female. - Treated like an experimental variable sometimes

Test-Market Sabotage

Intentional attempts to disrupt the results of a test-market being conducted by another firm. - Didn't really talk about this much

WITHIN-Subjects Design

Involves REPEATED measures because with each treatment the same subject is measured.

External Validity

Is the accuracy with which experimental results can be generalized beyond the experimental subjects

Attention Filters

Items that have known and obvious answers included just to see if participants are playing along.

Constancy of Conditions

Means that subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing experimental treatments.

Confound

Means that there is an alternative explanation beyond the experimental variables for any observed differences in the dependent variable - Once one of these is identified, the validity of the experiment is severely questioned

Systematic or Nonsampling Error

Occurs if the sampling units in an experimental cell are somehow different than the units in another cell, and this difference affects the dependent variable.

History Effect

Occurs when some change other than the experimental treatment occurs during the course of an experiment that affects the dependent variable. - When competitors change their marketing strategies during a test-marketing experiment. - Particularly prevalent in repeated measures experiments that take place over an extended time

Mortality Effect (Sample Attrition)

Occurs when some subjects withdraw from the experiment before it is completed.

Cohort Effect

Refers to a change in the dependent variable that occurs because members of one experimental group experienced different historical situations than members of other experimental groups.

Cell

Refers to a specific treatment combination associated with an experimental group - K = 2(color levels)*2(lighting levels) = 4 cells

Field Experiments

Research projects involving experimental manipulations that are implemented in a natural environment. - Less control, more natural

Tachistoscope

Device that controls the amount of time a subject is exposed to a visual image

Interaction Effect (Interactions)

Differences in a dependent variable due to a specific combination of independent variables - Combination of lights (soft or bright) and color (blue or orange) is presenting differences in customer satisfaction - When the lines have very DIFFERENT SLOPES, this is likely present

BETWEEN-Subjects Design

Each subject receives ONLY ONE treatment combination

Demand Characteristics

Experimental design element or procedure that unintentionally provides subjects with hints about the research hypothesis

Repeated Measures

Experiments in which an individual subject is exposed to more than one level of an experimental treatment.

Placebo Effect

The effect in a dependent variable associated with the psychological impact that goes along with knowledge of some treatment being administered

Main Effect

The experimental difference in dependent variable means between the different levels of any single experimental variable. - In the book case, there are two of these: one for COLOR and one for LIGHTING

Randomization

The random assignment of subject and treatments to groups; it is one device for equally distributing the effects of extraneous variables to all conditions

Laboratory Experiment

The researcher has more complete CONTROL over the research setting and extraneous variables

Subjects

The sampling units for an experiment, usually human participants in research who are subjected to some experimental manipulation

Test Units

The subjects or entities whose responses to the experimental treatment are measured or observed. - People are the most common form of these in most marketing and consumer behavior experiments

Experimental Treatment

The term referring to the way an experimental variable is manipulated - Painting the room either orange or blue - Changing the light to either bright or soft